Percival Wren

Percival Wren was a British writer, mostly of adventure fiction, who is remembered best for Beau Geste, a much-filmed book involving the French Foreign Legion in North Africa, and its sequels, Beau Sabreur and Beau Ideal.

Born in Devonshire England in 1885, Wren was a collateral descendant of the famous British seventeenth-century architect Sir Christopher Wren. His literary influences included Frederick Marryat, R. M. Ballantyne, G. A. Henty, and H. Rider Haggard. After graduating with an MA from Oxford, Percival traveled the world for five years before joining the British Calvary. From there, he went on to join the French Foreign Legion, working in India for the Bombay government for ten years. World events saw him returning to active service during World War I with the India Army in East Africa, after which he settled and married in London in 1917. He lived out the remainder of his life in England concentrating on his literary career. He died in 1941.

Wren produced almost fifty titles during his lifetime, including The Snake and The Sword, Sinbad the Soldier, The Disappearance of General Jason, and The Uniform of Glory.